Author Guidelines

Instructions for submitting Authors

Please read the following guidelines carefully. Failure to comply may result in your submission being returned and therefore delayed.

General guidelines

1. Each issue of RELA has a specific theme outlined in the call for papers section of the website. Within each issue there will be a section with papers related to the theme, and one for open papers. As an author you are invited to submit your paper either in relation to a theme or as an open paper.
2. Manuscripts should be submitted through the online system and RELA guidelines must be carefully followed (see Organisation of manuscripts below). Manuscripts submitted in relation to a thematic issue should be submitted to the appropriate section. Manuscript not related to a specific theme should be submitted to the section "Open Paper". New users should create a new account while previous users can log in using their user names and passwords.
3. Unless otherwise notified RELA assumes manuscripts to be the property of the submitting author.
4. Where a version of the manuscript has already been published, the submitting author should attach a statement to this effect and identifying that the article can be published by RELA with no costs incurred by the copyright holders. Authors are responsible for obtaining permissions from copyright holders.
5. A manuscript will be considered under the condition it has not been submitted for publication to any other journal, nor is published or is planned to be published in any other journal or publication.
6. An English language version of an article that has been published elsewhere in another language may be submitted for consideration. When submitting a manuscript in this category the submitting author is required to state that this is the case. Further, the author is required to provide a statement that a re-publication in English is allowed with no cost to RELA incurred by the copyright holders. Authors are responsible for obtaining permissions from copyright holders. English language manuscript versions will be processed as others.
7. All identification of the author should be omitted from manuscripts so that they can be sent anonymously to reviewers. In places where reference is made within the manuscript to the author's own published work, the author should replace this reference with the statement 'deleted for anonymity' and omit details of the publication from the reference list. Please omit the text under the heading Acknowledgements as well. If a manuscript is accepted, the author will be asked to reinsert these details.
8. Articles should be of 4000-8000 words including references and endnotes.
9. A short biography including the name, title(s) and affiliation(s) of the author(s) should be submitted in a separate document.
10. Authors are responsible for obtaining permissions from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations that have been previously published elsewhere.
11. To increase the coherence and continuity for our readers, authors are encouraged to review and refer to articles previously published in RELA.
12. Articles should be submitted in Microsoft Word format (.doc).
13. Please follow the conventions of British English spelling consistently throughout the manuscript.
14. Please ensure that your submission is anonymised. For example, a) delete all references in the reference list to any of the authors own publications (you can note in the reference list that X number of references have been deleted for anonymity); b) delete any reference in the text to any of the manuscript authors own publications, e.g. instead of (author name, 2010) you could state (deleted for anonymity); c) delete any information that might be included concerning names of research projects which the paper is part of, any acknowledgements etc.; d) make sure to delete any information about author identity in the file properties.
15. Make sure your manuscript strictly follows our guidelines (see the Organisation of manuscripts and References and quotations sections below).

What happens to the manuscript?

When the manuscript is submitted it will be reviewed by the editorial group. If deemed within the scope of the journal and potentially possessing the qualities for publication it will be sent for review by at least two reviewers. The review process is double blinded. The reviewers will review the article and suggest to the editorial group if it should be accepted, accepted with minor revisions, accepted with major revisions, resubmitted or rejected. Based on these recommendations the editorial group will make their decision. It is the ambition of the editorial group to provide feedback on submitted manuscripts within 4–5 months.

Decisions concerning submitted manuscripts cannot be negotiated.

If a paper is accepted with revisions the submitting author will be asked to re-submit within a stated frame of time. Failure to deliver a revised manuscript within this time may result in the manuscript being rejected. Re-submitted manuscripts will be reviewed by the editorial group and if necessary sent out for further review.

If an article is accepted, it is the sole responsibility of the author to deliver a print ready manuscript in accordance with the journal house style and in high quality English.

In a average, the time between the submission of a final version of an accepted manuscript and publication (as pre-published article) is six weeks.

Language policy

RELA is attentive to the fact that many authors do not have English as a first language and may find it difficult to make their research available to an English language audience. To encourage contributions from all over Europe RELA has the following language policy:

1. Articles and abstracts are published in English.
2. Articles can be submitted in a language other than English with permission for this from the editors (if you wish to use this option, you need to contact the editors before you submit the article). The editors will give permission if reviewers proficient in the submitting language are available. Such a manuscript needs to be accompanied with a two page synopsis in high quality English, specifying the aim of the article; the methods and theories drawn upon; whether it is conceptually or empirically based (and where the latter, the empirical material analyzed); and, the main results and conclusions drawn. If the article is accepted, the author is responsible for having it translated it into high quality English. Disclaimer: If it is not possible to find reviewers competent in both the submitting language and academic content, permission for the article to be submitted will not be granted. If this is the case the author will be invited to have the article translated into English prior to submission.
3. As a guide, reviewers are currently and generally available for manuscripts to be submitted in English, Spanish, German, French, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Polish and Portuguese.
4. RELA will consider publishing an English language version of an article that has been published elsewhere in another language. (For further instructions, see above point 5, General guidelines.)

Organisation of manuscripts

1. Manuscripts should be submitted in Times New Roman font, size 12, with double spacing.
2. Paper size of the document should be in A4-size and not e.g. Letter-size.
3. Use new line as separator of paragraphs in body text and reference list (not indentation)
4. Please follow the conventions of British English spelling consistently throughout the manuscript (e.g., use ‘s’ instead of ‘z’ in some words (emphasise, analyse, organise, etc.), use doubled ‘l’ (labelled, cancelled, modelling, etc.).
5. If dashes are used to mark breaks or emphasis in the text, use the so called en dash ( – ), not the longest so called em dash ( — ). Example: ’Her own understanding of belonging is fundamentally that of emotional attachment – to feel at home.’
6. If there are mentions of local concepts, reports, etc. in an original language other than English, write the title translated to English first (if no official translation is available, provide your own translation to the best of your ability), then add the original title in italics after. Example: We have used Swedish Government Official Reports (Statens offentliga utredningar, SOU)…
7. Closely follow the References and quotations guidelines below.
8. The manuscript should include an abstract of 100-150 words stating the aim of the article, the methodological and theoretical perspectives adopted and reasons for this selection, and the main findings and conclusions.
9. The abstract should be followed by 4-5 keywords.
10. Acknowledgements should appear in a separate section, after the main text of the article and prior to the reference list.
11. Footnotes should not be used and endnotes kept to a minimum. Endnotes should appear after the main text and before the acknowledgement section.
12. The manuscript should be presented with the following order: abstract, keywords, main text, endnotes, acknowledgements, references.
13. Tables and figures should be designed to fit into a page 150 x 222.3 mm (15 x 22.3 cm) and attached in a separate document. Their preferred location should be indicated in the main text.

References and quotations guidelines

• References should be in accordance with the RELAs guidelines stated here. If these guidelines do not provide information (special cases for example), please consult the 7th edition of the American Psychological Association (APA) system here.
• Use the author/date system for citations: Text text text (Inglewood, 2009). Page number should only be added after quote: 'This is a quote' (Inglewood, 2009, p. 45). 
• When referring to multiple authors of the publication, refer to the first author and use 'et al.': Text text text (Andersson et al., 2008). Please note that the names of all authors should be included in the reference list.
• Always use '&' not 'and' between two authors' names within citations: (Johnston & Perreira, 2008). However, when naming authors in the body of the text use 'and': Johnston and Perreira (2008) have illustrated...
• When referring to publications by an author in the same year, differentiate them by letter: (Andrews, 2009a, 2009b).
• If the author is an organisation or institution and there is an accepted acronym, show the entire name the first time it appears in the text with the acronym in parenthesis. Only use the acronym in subsequent appearances. For example, the first time '... (European Commission [EC], 2001)' and the second time '... (EC, 2001)'.
• Quotations in 39 words or less should be integrated in the text with single quotation marks. Quotations in 40 words or more should be formatted as block quotes, i.e. separated from the body text, indented and without citation marks.
• Supply full reference in the reference list, do not use abbreviations.
• List the references in alphabetical order at the end of the manuscript.
• Note that last name prefixes (like van, de, von) are treated as part of the last name, kept with their original capitalisation and spacing, and alphabetised by the first letter of the prefix in the reference list (e.g., de Beauvoir alphabetised under 'D'). In citations, include the prefix as part of the name, such as (de Beauvoir, 2015).
• Include correct DOI links for all references possible in the reference list.
• In the reference list, include an English translation of titles in other languages (if no official translation is available, provide your own translation to the best of your ability). Note: If the work cited is part of a larger work (e.g., an article in a journal or a chapter in an edited book), you do not need to translate the title of the larger work. Example, article: Surname1, X. X., & Surname2, X. X. (Year). Title [Your English translation within these brackets]. Journal, volume(issue), beginning page-last page. DOI link
• Crosscheck the text and the reference list to make sure that 1. All references in your text appear in the reference list, 2. References in the list that do not appear in the text are removed.

Some examples of references are provided below (check these guidelines for complete guidance):

Articles in journals

Template:

Surname, X. X. (Year). Title. Journal, volume(issue), beginning page-last page. DOI

Surname, X. X., & Surname, X. X. (Year). Title. Journal, volume(issue), beginning page-last page. DOI

Examples:

Biesta, G. (2006). What's the point of lifelong learning if lifelong learning has no point? On the democratic deficit of policies for lifelong learning. European Educational Research Journal, 5, 169-180. https://doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2006.5.3.169

Hartmann, J., Clarke, M., & Patrickson, M. (2008). Welcome to the party: A frame analysis of the construction of party identities in Swedish left parties new-member education. Studies in the Education for Adults, 52(2), 232-249. https://doi.org/10.1080/02660830.2020.1791480

Books

Template:

Surname, X. X. (Year). Title (edition). Publisher. DOI

Surname1, X. X., & Surname2, X. X. (Year). Title (edition). Publisher. DOI

Surname1, X. X., Surname2, X. X., & Surname3, X. X. (Year). Title (edition). Publisher. DOI

Examples:

Dean, M. (1999). Governmentality: Power and rule in modern society. Sage Publications.

Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.

Fejes, A., & Nicoll, K. (Eds.). (2008). Foucault and lifelong learning: Governing the subject. Routledge.

Chapters in books with editor(s)

Template:

Author of chapter’s Surname, X. X. (Year). Title of chapter. In A. Editor’s Surname (Ed.), Book Title (edition, pp. xx-xx). Publisher. DOI

Examples:

Stern, S. L. (2007). On solid ground: Essential properties for growing grounded theory. In A. Bryant, & K. Charmaz (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of grounded theory (pp. 114-126). Sage Publications.

Jacobsson, G. (2004). A European politics for employability: The political discourse of employability of the EU and the OECD. In C. Garsten, & K. Jacobsson (Eds.), Learning to be employable: New agendas on work, responsibility and learning in a globalized world (pp. 42-62). Palgrave Macmillan.

E-books

Template:

Surname, X. X. (Year). Title (edition). Publisher. DOI or URL

Example:

Lindblad, S., Pettersson, D., & Popkewitz, T. S. (2018). Education by the Numbers and the Making of Society. Routledge. https://doi-org.e.bibl.liu.se/10.4324/9781315100432

Reports

Template:

Surname, X. X. (Year). Title (Title of series Serial number). Publisher. URL

Organisation. (Year). Title (Title of series Serial number). Publisher. URL

Examples:

Grundy, J., Dakulala, P., Wai, K., Maalsen, A., & Whittaker, M. (2019). Independent state of Papua New Guinea health system review. (M. Whittaker & N. Smith Eds., Health Systems in Transition, Vol. 9 No. 1). World Health Organization, Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/280088

Ministry of Education. (1998). SOU 1998:51. Vuxenutbildning och livslångt lärande. Situationen inför och under första året med Kunskapslyftet. Utbildningsdepartementet. URL

Dissertations

Template:

Surname, X. X. (Year). Title. [Doctoral thesis/Licentiate thesis, University]. Database Name/ Archive name. URL

Examples:

Ahmed, S. (2020). Healthcare financing challenges and opportunities to achieving universal health coverage in the low- and middle-income country context. [Doctoral thesis, Karolinska Institutet]. Karolinska Institutet Open Archive. https://openarchive.ki.se/xmlui/handle/10616/46957

Marten, M. G. (2014). Aid withdrawal and health care sustainability: Shifting mandates in health institutions and HIV/AIDS programs in Tanzania. (Publication no. 3691350) [Docoral thesis, University of Florida]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.

Articles in newspapers

Template:

Surname. X. X. (Year, Date). Title of article. Title of newspaper. URL/ Section part

Example:

Grady, D. (2020, January 9). Vaping kills a 15-year-old in Texas. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/health/teen-vaping-death.html

Web

Template:

Surname, X. X./Organization. (Date). Title. URL

Examples:

Avramova, N. (2019, January 19). The Secret to a long, happy, healthy life? Think agepositive. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/03/health/respect-toward-elderly-leads-to-long-life-intl/index.html

World Health Organization. (2018, March). Questions and answers on immunization and vaccine safety. http://www.who.int/features/qa/84/en/

Association of Internet Researchers. (2002). Ethical decision-making and Internet research. Recommendations from the AoIR ethics working committee. http://www.aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf

Conference contributions

Template:

Author of conference contribution’s Surname, X. X. (Year). Title of conference contribution. In X. Editor’s Surname (Ed.), Title of conference proceedings. (start pagenumber-end pagenumber). Publisher. DOI/URL

Example:

Bärkås, A., Scandurra I., Hägglund, M. (2019). Analysis of voluntary user feedback of the Swedish National PAEHR service. In L. Ohno-Machado & B. Séroussi (Eds.), MEDINFO 2019: Health and Wellbeing e-Networks for All: Proceedings of the 17th World Congress of Medical and Health Informatics (1126-1130). IOS Press. https://doi.org/10.3233/SHTI264

Tables, figures and photographs

• Tables and figures should be designed to fit into a page 150 x 222.3 mm (15 x 22.3 cm) and attached in a separate document. Their preferred location should be indicated in the main text.
• Tables and figures should be numbered consecutively (i.e. Table 1, Figure 1 etc.) followed by a title (at the end no period), for example: Table 1. Characteristics of focus group participants, 1990-1995 (n = 39)
• Tables may be reformatted by the publisher to permit more compact typesetting.
• Photographs and figures may be supplied in colour, separately, in tif-format and in high contrast glossy print (300 dpi).